NSTI NanoTech 2007
• Agilent Technologies has introduced a new controller that it says extends the capability of atomic force microscopy. Dubbed Magnetic AC Mode III, the unit suits biological, surface science and polymer applications.
• Dip pen nanolithography specialist NanoInk; has shipped its 35th Nscriptor system. The apparatus uses a coated stylus tip to deliver stable, nanoscale patterns of molecular "ink" on to a sample substrate.
• Surrey NanoSystems made its commercial debut at NanoTech 2007 with a purpose-designed tool for carbon nanotube fabrication. The NanoGrowth 1000n comes with both chemical vapour deposition (CVD) and plasma-enhanced CVD processing capability.
General company news
• Joseph Dox, a 35-year veteran of the semiconductor capital equipment industry, has joined the Board of Directors at Nanometrics Incorporated, a leading supplier of advanced metrology equipment to the semiconductor industry. Dox's extensive career in the electronics and semiconductor industries includes financial executive positions at Applied Materials and Novellus Systems.
• NanoDynamics subsidiary MetaMateria Partners (MMP) offers "NanoPurity", a lightweight and porous ceramic technology into which nanoparticles, nanofibres or nanocrystals are deposited to remove, catalyze, inactivate or neutralize specific contaminants found in water. These nanomaterials enable such water-remediation applications as arsenic and lead removal, abiotic reductive dehalogenation, heavy-metals absorption, groundwater bioremediation, and phosphate removal.
• Privately held Ecology Coatings, a leading developer of nano-engineered industrial coatings for cleaner, more efficient manufacturing will merge with publicly held OCIS Corporation as part of a alternative public offering (APO) transaction.
• NANOIDENT Technologies AG, the world leader in printed semiconductor-based optoelectronic sensors, has delivered the world's largest printed semiconductor-based photodetector array on a flexible PET foil substrate. An industry first, this array was developed with the NANOIDENT SEMICONDUCTOR 2.0 Platform and will allow cost-effective, printed semiconductor-based photodetector arrays that eliminate the need for costly optical filters to be used in a wide variety of new industrial, medical and security applications.
Materials
• Nanocomp Technologies, Inc. has produced what it claims is a revolutionary new textile material from long carbon nanotubes. The material, in usable non-woven sheet and yarn formats, is extremely lightweight and strong; efficiently conducts both electricity and heat and could be used in defence and aerospace in a variety of applications from body armour to structural composites, and commercial energy storage and electronics thermal management.
• Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have created low-density aerogels made from carbon nanotubes capable of supporting 8000 times their own weight. The new material also combines the strength and ultralight, heat-insulating properties of aerogels with the electrical conductivity of nanotubes.
Centres of excellence
• Brookhaven National Laboratory has officially opened its new Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN). The CFN's unique array of tools will explore and develop nanoscale materials aimed at helping the US achieve energy independence.
• Rensselaer, IBM and New York State have unveiled the new Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations (CCNI), which is the result of a $100 million partnership. The CCNI will continue advancing semiconductor technology to the nanoscale while also enabling key nanotechnology innovations in the fields of energy, biotechnology, arts and medicine.
• St Petersburg State University (SPSU) is to inaugurate Russia's first Centre for Nanoscale Technologies. The overall cost of the project is estimated at 130 million roubles (approx US$5 million). The centre as part of the SPSU is the first step in preparing for a future federal purpose-oriented programme for the development of nanotechnologies in Russia.